Introduction:
Hebrews 5:14 - But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
What is True? How to Be Sure You Have the Truth (1 John 4:1-6):
- Don't be Gullible . (1 John:1)
Leviticus 17:7 - So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to goat demons, after whom they whore.
Deuteronomy 32:17 - They sacrificed to demons that were no gods...
1 Timothy 4:1 - Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons...
James 3:15 - This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 - Do not despise prophecies, but test everything: hold fast to what is good.
- Be Discerning . (1 John:2-6)
Three Questions to Ask About the Preacher:
- What is he saying about Jesus ? (1 John:2-3)
- Is he glorifying God or glorifying Me ? (1 John:4-5)
- How does he respond to the Word ? (1 John:6)
James 1:5 - If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:48-00:52
And our theme of the year is, “Let's Get Intentional”.
00:54-00:56
We started with intentional missions.
00:58-01:02
We talked about intentional faith as we walked through the book of James.
01:03-01:06
And just recently we had intentional hope.
01:06-01:08
What are we waiting for?
01:08-01:10
As we went through the Olivet discourse.
01:12-01:19
And for the next four weeks, The subject on the table is intentional wisdom.
01:20-01:25
And we are going after the lost art of discernment.
01:25-01:27
So let's just bow our heads.
01:27-01:36
I'm gonna ask that you would please pray for me because sometimes it's easier than others.
01:39-01:43
And I'd ask you please pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word.
01:44-01:50
And I will pray for you to open up your hearts to receive what it is that God has said.
01:50-01:51
Let's pray.
01:56-02:10
Father, we ask once again that your name is glorified through your word, through our response to your word.
02:12-02:12
(congregation laughing)
02:14-02:19
Thank you, Father, for everything that you're going to accomplish through your word.
02:21-02:22
We pray in Jesus' name.
02:23-02:26
All of God's people said, amen.
02:26-02:33
Many years ago, I was at a conference, a pastor's conference in Chicago, and there were thousands of people there.
02:35-02:53
And who got up to speak, gave this, You want to call it a sermon, some kind of talk describing how God and Satan were fighting over his soul, which was put in a prison.
02:58-03:08
But you know what was almost more alarming than the guy's message was I was looking around the room at countless hundreds of people sitting there going, "Hmm, Amen.
03:09-03:10
taking notes on it.
03:11-03:11
It's like, what?
03:13-03:20
Then fast forward, I went to a, before this church had launched, we went to a very large church in this area.
03:22-03:27
And the pastor got up and his sermon was, "Every prayer that you pray, the answer is yes.
03:28-03:30
God's always gonna give you what you pray for.
03:30-03:37
And if for some reason you don't get it, well, that's what the parable of the soils is about." Matthew 13.
03:38-03:42
And he completely butchered and hacked the text.
03:43-03:46
I'm like, Matthew, that parable is about evangelism.
03:47-03:49
That has nothing to do with prayer.
03:51-03:55
And this idea that God's just gonna give you everything you want, well, that's nowhere in the Bible.
03:57-03:59
But you know what was almost more alarming than the guy's message?
04:00-04:05
Was the room full of people sitting around, oh, oh, amen, amen.
04:07-04:08
What?
04:11-04:35
Then fast forward a few more years, there was some men's thing gathering down, it was down at Genarostas, and the man got up and he gave some really weird message about the mind of Christ, how Jesus had a human brain and a divine brain, and the human brain of Jesus really wasn't good for anything except maybe geographically navigating around Israel.
04:36-04:39
but then there's this, you know, divine mind of Christ.
04:39-04:47
And it was just, I'm like ready to jump out of my skin, but you know what was almost more disturbing than the message?
04:50-05:05
As I was looking around the room and everybody, "Oh, oh, amen!" Popular preachers, very popular preachers with huge platforms.
05:06-05:15
One several years ago, you remember, his message was how Peter, James, and Paul unhitched themselves from the Old Testament.
05:19-05:23
And I'm sure people hearing that message were nodding and saying, amen.
05:26-05:28
Another very popular preacher with a message.
05:30-05:45
He talked about, you know, Like if a mom has her kid at the playground and the kid falls off the swing and gets hurt, the mom's gonna put him in the car and she's gonna speed to the hospital and she's going to ignore stop signs and traffic lights.
05:46-05:48
She will break the law because she loves her child so much.
05:49-05:50
And he said, that's the gospel.
05:51-05:56
The cross of Jesus Christ, God broke his own law because of his love for us.
05:57-05:58
A very popular preacher said that.
06:03-06:09
Do you even Bible? What are you talking about? Do you know the beauty of the gospel?
06:09-06:28
Is God fulfilled his law through Jesus Christ. But there were people nodding and saying amen. And that's why we're having this series. And it's You're gonna get real uncomfortable for a few weeks, okay?
06:28-06:31
But if you want comfort, buy a Lazy Boy.
06:32-06:34
This isn't about comfort here.
06:35-06:40
This is about allowing the word of God to challenge and change us, okay?
06:42-06:48
Because listen, the church at large has lost its ability to discern.
06:49-06:50
Like, well, what's discernment?
06:51-07:01
Discernment is just simply being able to tell what's real spiritual truth from God versus what is trash doctrine.
07:03-07:05
That's discernment, what's real and what's not.
07:05-07:10
And if we're not careful, church, we're going to lose our ability to discern.
07:12-07:18
My concern isn't for the church at large as much as it is for the church right here.
07:19-07:21
This is where my concern is.
07:22-07:36
My concern is for people here who love the Lord, who love His Word, and who are being led astray by countless opportunities to hear false teaching in our day.
07:38-08:03
Whether it's on the internet, listening to podcasts, your favorite preacher on YouTube, Never has lack of discernment and the danger of false teaching, never has it been a bigger problem because never have we had so much access to it.
08:04-08:05
Do you know what I'm talking about?
08:06-08:08
A little computer you carry around.
08:13-08:20
People have become so unwise in who they follow, who they listen to, who they read.
08:23-08:32
And it's also unpopular now more than ever to point to something and say, no, no, this is wrong.
08:33-08:34
This is false.
08:37-08:44
And that's why it's gonna get uncomfortable in here because we are conditioned that it's bad to say that.
08:44-09:05
Why can't we say something is wrong is false because it makes people feel bad. Let's be honest. You can't say this is wrong because somebody who believes that is gonna feel bad about that. So we just accept everything. You know what I'm talking about? You know what I'm talking about? Let me give you an example.
09:10-09:10
Catholicism.
09:16-09:18
Do you feel that tension in the room?
09:20-09:20
(congregation laughing)
09:20-09:21
Do you feel that?
09:22-09:30
Because there's people right now, they're like, "What's he gonna say?" Let's just be honest.
09:30-09:33
I'm not very good at sugarcoating things, but let's just be honest.
09:33-09:34
It's a sacred cow.
09:38-09:44
But it's also a religion that has countless unbiblical doctrines.
09:45-09:49
Like, you know you can't say that, Jeff, because my grandma's Catholic.
09:50-09:53
I'm sure your grandma's a lovely person.
09:53-09:57
And I have many Catholic friends and family.
09:57-10:03
And you're like, probably not after this sermon, but like, I love Catholic people.
10:04-10:06
But let me ask you, have you ever read the catechism?
10:06-10:07
I have.
10:09-10:15
And in that book of their teaching, there are unbiblical things taught.
10:17-10:23
But we're supposed to ignore that because it might make somebody feel bad if we point that out.
10:27-10:30
Years ago, I taught, it was up at the Butler High School.
10:30-10:31
There was a community religions class.
10:32-10:38
They brought all these different religions in and they had a week to tell the kids, here's what we teach if you come to our church kind of thing.
10:39-10:43
So I'm like, oh, this is primo opportunity to share the gospel, right?
10:44-10:48
But I asked the teacher who I found out the teacher went to a local church.
10:49-10:54
So before class started the one day, I asked her, I said, look, I can ask you a question.
10:54-11:03
I said, do you ever struggle with all these like cults that come in and teach their thing, right?
11:03-11:04
Do you ever struggle with that?
11:05-11:06
She goes, oh no.
11:07-11:22
I'm like, "Oh, why doesn't that bother you?" She goes, "You can't ever tell anybody that they're wrong." And I said, "Well, sure you can.
11:24-11:25
"It's easy.
11:26-11:27
"Don't believe me?
11:27-11:29
"Watch, somebody shout out, help me out.
11:29-11:30
"This is just for funsies.
11:31-11:32
"Show you how easy it is.
11:32-11:42
"Somebody shout out, "'There are many ways to get to heaven.' "Shout it out." wrong because Jesus said that he's the only way.
11:43-11:43
See how easy that was?
11:50-11:54
But listen, my friends, this is exactly what the church is supposed to do.
11:55-11:56
Are you serious about your job?
11:56-11:58
I'm serious about mine.
11:59-12:03
And my job is to help you know Christ and to grow in your walk.
12:04-12:10
And that means to grow in our walks, We have to know what is true and what is not true.
12:13-12:17
And that requires you to do some training.
12:18-12:20
All right, Hebrews 5.14.
12:21-12:23
Can we get this on the screen, please?
12:23-12:24
There we go, thank you.
12:25-12:38
It says, "But solid food is for the mature, "for those who have their," look at this, "powers of discernment trained by constant practice." to distinguish good from evil.
12:39-12:41
That verse says a lot, we covered Hebrews.
12:41-12:42
What was that, last year?
12:44-12:47
But a couple of things to point out there, my friends, growth is not instant.
12:48-12:52
It's not like you come to Christ and poof, instantly mature, it's a process.
12:56-13:05
And to grow in maturity in your walk with Christ, which is why I imagine you're here, I'm gonna grow in my walk with Christ, great, same agenda.
13:05-13:11
And what that means according to God's word is you must train and learn how to discern.
13:16-13:25
Your growth is learning to say what is true and what is false.
13:27-13:35
It's what is of God and what is not of God.
13:35-13:59
God. It's, and it gets even deeper than that. It's this process of making careful distinctions in your thinking. And you're like, does it really matter? Does it Does it really matter?
14:01-14:04
I mean, okay, so people might teach things differently.
14:05-14:06
Like, does it really matter?
14:09-14:10
Well, let me ask you this.
14:10-14:17
If you went to the doctor, because let's just pretend you had the most debilitating migraines.
14:17-14:22
Like you can't even think when these migraines come on.
14:22-14:24
You can't function, you can't work.
14:24-14:27
You can't do anything when these migraines come on.
14:27-14:34
And you go to the doctor and you say, "Doctor, I gotta do something about these migraines.
14:34-14:36
Like, what could it be, doctor?
14:36-14:38
Tell me what's causing these migraines.
14:38-14:40
Is it my diet?
14:40-14:41
Is it something I'm eating?
14:41-14:43
Am I sitting too close to the TV?
14:43-14:45
My mom warned me about that.
14:45-14:54
I mean, could I have a tumor?" Imagine if the doctor just goes, "Well, it could be whatever you want.
14:57-14:58
I'm sorry, what?
14:59-15:01
Doctor's like, it can be whatever you want it to be.
15:03-15:06
As long as you really are sincere in what you believe about that.
15:10-15:14
You would be like, I'm not getting billed for this, am I?
15:16-15:17
Are you serious?
15:17-15:20
But that sounds, that's you're like, that's goofy, right?
15:20-15:26
Well, we acknowledge that there's absolutes in every other area of life, right?
15:27-15:33
math and science, but when it comes to spiritual matters, it's anything goes there, right?
15:34-15:35
And I would say, no.
15:36-15:40
Spiritually, there's a lot more at stake.
15:42-15:44
So you better be sure you have the truth.
15:45-15:47
So in your outline today, what is true?
15:51-15:53
How to be sure that you have the truth.
15:56-15:57
Two points today.
16:00-16:01
Number one, write this down.
16:02-16:03
How to be sure you have the truth.
16:03-16:04
Number one, don't be gullible.
16:05-16:06
Don't be gullible.
16:09-16:10
Look at verse one.
16:12-16:34
John says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, "but test the spirits to see whether they are from God "For many false prophets have gone out into the world." Don't be gullible.
16:35-16:36
Look at this verse.
16:36-16:41
Okay, first of all, he says, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirit." Wait, wait, wait, hang on a second.
16:43-16:44
What's he talking about?
16:45-16:48
How can I test a spirit?
16:48-16:49
Like, what does he mean?
16:50-16:54
Well, this passage, obviously, he's talking about using discernment.
16:56-16:59
You're like, okay, well then why does he phrase it this way?
17:01-17:01
Here's why.
17:03-17:12
Do you realize every religious idea, every spiritual idea out there has one of two sources.
17:13-17:17
It's either from God or it's from Satan.
17:20-17:24
With Satan, we are going to lump in the demons.
17:25-17:31
But every spiritual religious idea has either come from heaven or it's come from hell.
17:31-17:34
It's come from God or it's come from Satan.
17:35-17:52
You remember Genesis chapter three, Garden of Eden, Satan's oldest and most effective ploy is getting people to doubt God's word and then getting people to deny God's word.
17:53-17:59
And it's all through the Bible, God reveals truth, Satan comes along and he counters it with lies.
18:03-18:11
But here's the point, my friends, false teaching, false religion is demonic.
18:13-18:24
So anything that speaks to the spiritual realm, God, heaven, et cetera, it's either from God or it's from demons.
18:26-18:26
Not my opinion.
18:27-18:30
Let me give you a few verses to show you what I'm talking about.
18:30-18:32
This comes up in the Old Testament, actually.
18:32-18:36
Look at the Old Testament law, Leviticus, what, 17, seven.
18:41-18:54
It says, "So they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices "to goat demons after whom they whore." They thought they were sacrificing to gods.
18:54-18:57
God says they're actually sacrificing to demons.
18:58-19:04
Deuteronomy 32, 17 says they sacrificed to demons that were no gods.
19:04-19:05
There it is again.
19:05-19:09
They thought, yeah, they thought they were sacrificing to a God.
19:11-19:13
There's a demon behind it.
19:14-19:16
The demon behind the false religion.
19:18-19:21
Like, okay, Pastor Jeff, That's so Old Testament of you.
19:22-19:24
But I don't know if you've noticed, but we live in a New Testament.
19:24-19:26
Well, okay, write this one down then.
19:26-19:42
1 Timothy 4, 1 says, "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of," Oh, what's it say?
19:44-19:45
Go ahead, you can say it.
19:45-19:46
(congregation laughing)
19:49-19:50
So where does the false teaching come from?
19:52-19:52
It's demonic.
19:55-19:57
Like, well, Paul laid it on pretty thick.
19:57-19:59
Is that like really a New Testament thing?
19:59-20:03
Well, remember earlier in the year, James, we went through James, right?
20:03-20:04
James 3, 15.
20:04-20:05
Look what it says.
20:06-20:17
It says, "This is not the wisdom that comes down from above "comparing with God's wisdom." He goes, "No, no, this false wisdom that you subscribe to, he describes it in three ways.
20:18-20:21
It's earthly, it's unspiritual, and what's the last word?
20:23-20:24
It's demonic.
20:26-20:27
So listen, that's why this is so important.
20:27-20:32
False teaching isn't just a little bit wrong, it's demonic.
20:35-20:36
It's pure evil.
20:38-20:49
And that's why John says here in verse one, "Do not believe every spirit." John is saying not every spirit is the Holy Spirit.
20:50-20:51
Don't be gullible.
20:53-20:58
Literally in the Greek, better translated, this is, he's saying stop it.
20:59-21:02
He's saying stop believing everything that you hear.
21:03-21:03
Stop it.
21:04-21:06
Stop believing every spirit.
21:07-21:07
Stop it.
21:09-21:09
Stop it.
21:10-21:11
Stop believing church.
21:11-21:14
Stop believing everything you see on Christian TV.
21:16-21:20
Stop believing everything that you hear on Christian.
21:22-21:31
Stop believing everything you see on YouTubes, every conference you go to, everything you hear in a podcast.
21:31-21:34
Stop believing everything that you hear.
21:34-21:39
And you're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, they quote scripture." So does Satan, okay?
21:39-21:46
Stop believing everything you hear just because somebody put a sticker on it that says this is Christian.
21:48-21:50
That's what John is saying.
21:50-21:50
Stop it.
21:52-21:53
Stop it.
21:55-21:57
I've been suckered as a young believer.
21:57-22:01
I remember new Christian, we're going back to like 1995, new Christian.
22:02-22:11
And I wanted more than anything to learn and grow in my walk And I remember, I shared this story before, I'm embarrassed to have to say it again.
22:11-22:12
Here we go.
22:13-22:19
I wanted to grow my walk and somehow I subscribed, I found these like Christian magazines.
22:19-22:24
I subscribed to Charisma Magazine.
22:24-22:26
Look, I didn't know any better, okay?
22:27-22:29
Stop laughing at me, I didn't know.
22:34-22:37
but it was article after article of the Toronto blessing.
22:38-22:39
Remember the Toronto blessing?
22:41-22:44
Uncontrolled laughing, barking like dogs.
22:45-22:47
It was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
22:48-22:51
I was like, wait a minute, wait a minute.
22:51-22:54
Something tells me I just wasted a lot of money on a magazine subscription.
22:58-23:03
But I learned very early what John is saying right here.
23:05-23:07
Not everything called Christian is from God.
23:08-23:11
And Satan is not going to make it obvious.
23:13-23:16
He's going to make it sound spiritual.
23:17-23:19
He's gonna make it sound good.
23:19-23:24
But I need to remind you that subtlety and deception is how he plays.
23:27-23:28
Don't be gullible.
23:30-23:36
Look at verse one again, it says, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
23:39-23:39
This is widespread.
23:41-23:41
It's everywhere.
23:43-23:45
You know, I was thinking about this New Testament-wise.
23:45-23:55
There's only one book in the entire New Testament that I could think of that doesn't address false teaching or false teachers on some level, and that's the book of Philemon.
23:56-24:03
I was kind of going through my head, like, it just seems like every book addresses this issue because it is so widespread.
24:04-24:06
We just went through the Olivet Discourse.
24:06-24:08
Remember what Jesus said, Matthew 24?
24:08-24:11
"Beware of false Christs, false prophets.
24:11-24:16
"See that no one leads you astray." And you're like, "I'm ready, Pastor Jeff.
24:16-24:17
"I'm ready for the Jehovah's Witnesses.
24:17-24:18
"I'm ready for the Mormons.
24:19-24:29
"I'm ready for the Christian scientists." I'm like, "Those ones are obvious." I'm more concerned about the ones that present themselves as biblical.
24:30-24:31
That's who concerns me.
24:35-24:46
1 Thessalonians 5 says, "Do not despise prophecies, "but," look at this, "test everything.
24:48-24:53
"Hold fast to what is good." Listen, my friends, you have to test everything.
24:55-24:58
Every spiritual teaching you hear, you have to test it.
25:02-25:05
And right now somebody's like, "Oh, I get it, Pastor Jeff.
25:05-25:06
Okay, okay.
25:07-25:09
So just believe you then, right?
25:10-25:25
Just believe you." And I would say, "Yeah, believe me." This church is committed to preaching God's Word straightforwardly.
25:25-25:26
No gimmicks.
25:28-25:35
But I strongly encourage you to test every single word that I say.
25:40-26:02
Everything that's preached in this church, whether it's me or Taylor or one of our elders, you have to ask yourself, "Is that really what the Bible says?" After every sermon, you should be able to go home, open up the text that we covered, You should be able to look at the text and say, "Oh, I see why he said that.
26:02-26:03
It's right there.
26:03-26:05
Oh, okay, that makes sense.
26:05-26:08
All right, I see why he said the things that he did.
26:08-26:14
It comes right from there." Don't be gullible.
26:15-26:21
Any teaching that you hear must be tested with the word of God.
26:25-26:26
Number two, don't be gullible.
26:27-26:29
What is true, how to be sure you have the truth.
26:29-26:30
John says, don't be gullible.
26:32-26:35
Stop believing everything.
26:38-26:40
Don't be gullible, but number two, be discerning.
26:41-26:41
Be discerning.
26:43-26:47
Okay, so John's like, test the spirits.
26:48-26:48
Like, great.
26:50-26:51
How do I do that?
26:51-27:45
Can you be a little more specific to test the spirits. And John's like, "Coming right up on your outline. Three questions to ask about the preacher." And when I say preacher, we're including the podcaster or the YouTuber or anybody that you're listening to that is making some kind of spiritual claim. These are three questions to ask about the preacher. Even preacher standing right here. Okay? We're not exempt. Test everything. First question, letter A. What is he saying about Jesus? What is he saying about Jesus, look at verse two.
27:45-28:02
He says, "By this, you know the Spirit of God." Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.
28:03-28:04
Stop there.
28:04-28:11
The first question you have to ask anytime you hear spiritual teaching is what is he saying about Jesus?
28:11-28:21
Because according to the Bible and the incarnation, Jesus Christ is 100% God and 100% human.
28:23-28:31
The Bible teaches that God became a man to die as a man for man.
28:32-28:38
And without getting that doctrine right, nothing else that we talk about here really matters.
28:41-28:43
Then he says the same thing in the negative.
28:43-28:44
Look at verse three.
28:45-28:58
He says, "And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God." Okay, here it is, easy test.
28:59-29:06
They don't confess Jesus Christ as fully God and fully man.
29:07-29:11
They don't confess Jesus, then they're not from God.
29:13-29:20
By the way, that's a common trait of heresies, of cults, denying the deity of Jesus Christ.
29:22-29:24
Kind of a meatball test.
29:24-29:25
It's easy.
29:25-29:26
What do they say about Jesus?
29:29-29:31
Well, like in Islam, Jesus is just a prophet of God.
29:32-29:32
Jesus was a Muslim.
29:33-29:35
Jesus is second only to Muhammad.
29:37-29:39
In Hinduism, Jesus was an empowered incarnation.
29:40-29:41
He was murdered.
29:41-29:43
He wasn't resurrected, but he was reincarnated.
29:43-29:50
In Hinduism, I'm sorry, in Judaism, Jesus is the most damaging of all the false messiahs.
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In Buddhism, the modern Buddhists have said that Jesus was Buddha reincarnated.
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He was an enlightened man.
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The Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus isn't God.
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He was in pre-incarnate form, pre-existent form in heaven as Michael the archangel.
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Mormons say that Jesus is the brother of Lucifer.
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Scientology says that Jesus is not God, but it doesn't really matter who or what Jesus is because we don't need him.
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Man is good enough.
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We can free ourselves.
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You always have to examine what is being said about Jesus.
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Look at verse 3 again.
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He says, "This is the Spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard was coming, and now is in the world already." You see, whatever is not from God, whatever does not line up with His Word, John says, is the spirit of the antichrist.
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Like antichrist, that sounds like, isn't that like the book of Revelation, End Times, eschatology stuff?
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Yeah.
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Revelation talks about the last antichrist.
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But John says, this spirit is already at work in the world right now.
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It's all around us.
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So many times I've heard people professing Christians.
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One guy was even a professing missionary.
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But I've heard so many people applaud Islam.
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You've heard it.
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People say, "Well, Muslims just call God Allah, but it's a wonderful religion." Well, they don't confess Jesus Christ.
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So what does that make Islam?
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Well, according to verse three, that makes Islam not from God and the spirit of the antichrist.
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So any teaching you hear, and right now, if you're like, I ain't never come back to this church again.
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Okay, the next church you go to, listen real closely to what they say about Jesus.
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That's what John's telling us.
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First test. First question to ask about the preacher.
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What they say about Jesus, does it line up with what the Bible says?
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Next question, letter B.
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Three questions to ask about the preacher. Is he glorifying God or glorifying me?
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Verse 4, "Little children, you are from God.
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and have overcome them.
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For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." I love that, little children.
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How would you feel if I called you little children?
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Try that sometime, not today.
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But I love this because John is feeling the, Maybe he's feeling the pressure here, right?
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Gotta relieve some pressure a little bit by dropping in a word of encouragement right here.
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Verse four, "Are you a true believer?
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Well, listen, if you're a true believer in Christ, the Holy Spirit is going to protect you from being lied to." And John talks a lot about that, especially in chapter two of 1 John.
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This is why your walk with Christ is so important.
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Your time in the word is so important.
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your time privately praying alone on your face before God.
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That's why these things are so important.
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The Holy Spirit will protect you from being lied to.
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But another big question you need to ask about the preacher is their message glorifying God or is it glorifying me?
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Look at verse five.
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It says, "They are from the world.
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Therefore they speak from the world and the world listens to them." Stop there.
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Like, wait, with these false teachers, with all these cults and just this trash doctrine being spewed, like why in the world does the world listen to them?
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How do these people that are preaching these false messages, how are they filling, some of them are filling these massive auditoriums?
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Well, John tells us right here, in many cases, they're just telling people what they wanna hear.
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You've heard those messages, right?
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The sermons go something like this.
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And listen, if somebody cuts this as an edit, I'm going to be really upset.
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But their sermons go something like this.
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God wants to give you everything.
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Everything that your heart desires, that's what God wants to give you.
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Listen, you have the power to forge your own destiny.
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You have the power.
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And if you just believe God is going to make you whole and he's going to make you wealthy and you're a child of the king and he's expecting you to live like that.
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And it is never the will of God that you suffer.
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Oh, and then you sprinkle in a few random out of context verses in a sermon like that.
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And the world hears that, and they're like, oh yeah, that's the kind of religion that I want.
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Money, physical health, God giving me what I want.
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Like who's not gonna sign up for that?
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But it's not true.
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We put the spotlight off of Jesus, and we put it onto me.
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And self-centered teaching attracts self-centered people.
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And we measure success with numbers and we somehow equate that with authenticity.
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It's not.
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It's a huge red flag.
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When the focus of preaching is our benefit, not God's glory.
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All that might be attractive to you, but it's not attractive to God.
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So I asked about the preacher, is he glorifying God or is he glorifying me?
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Then letter C, can we handle one more?
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Letter C, three questions to ask about the preacher.
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How does he respond to the word?
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How does he respond to the word?
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Look at verse six.
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John says, "We are from God." Whoever knows God listens to us.
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Whoever is not from God does not listen to us.
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By this, we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
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Okay, whoever knows God listens to us.
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Obviously he's talking about those who preach the word.
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And John is saying that when the word is preached, the people that really love God are going to respond to the word of God.
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But then he says, whoever is not from God does not listen to us.
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You don't belong to Jesus if you don't listen to his word.
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But this is one way to discover a false teacher.
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Show them what the Bible says and see how they respond.
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Have you ever done that?
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I think many, many years ago, I had these Mormon missionaries coming to my house and I was trying to reach them with the gospel.
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And one time we sat down and we were talking and I was trying to share with him what the Bible says about Jesus and salvation.
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And the one missionary, he kept going back to this is what we are taught in Mormonism and this is what we believe.
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And I said, "Why do you believe that?" Getting down to the source of authority question, right?
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I'm like, "How do you know that the Book of Mormon is true?" And he said, "I know it's true, because when I read it, I got a burning in my bosom." That's the thing.
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That's the thing, look it up.
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I'm like, you know what?
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I had a burning in my bosom last week, but it was because I ate too many curly fries.
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How was a burning in the bosom the authenticator of truth?
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(congregation laughing)
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But he didn't wanna hear what God said.
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You see, that's the point.
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How does the preacher, how does the missionary, how does this religious teacher respond to the word of God?
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Another time, Aaron and I were talking to this lady who was part of the Jehovah's Witness cult.
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And I was talking, they believe that heaven and earth are eternal.
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And I was talking to her about how, no, God's going to burn up a new one, right?
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And my mic cut out, did you hear that?
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God's gonna burn this one down and make a new one.
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Wanna make sure you got that.
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He totally is.
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Well, anyways, the lady was like, "No, he's not." I'm like, "Well, that's what the Bible says." She goes, "The Bible doesn't say that." So I open up the Bible.
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I'm like, "Look, right here." And I showed her and she goes, Well, I've never seen that before.
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I'm like, oh, well, I'll let the Lord know that if you haven't seen it, it might not be true.
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So many times with so many different cults, I have tried to show them what the word of God says, and it's always the same result.
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I don't really care what that says.
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This is what our doctrine teaches.
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That is a huge red flag.
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How do they respond to the word of God?
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Our worship team would make their way back up to the platform.
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Listen, my brothers and sisters in Christ, the way you respond to the word of God says everything about where your heart is.
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And that is absolutely true of false teachers too.
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This is exactly why God gave us a book.
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Do you realize the brilliant wisdom of that?
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Because anybody can just walk around and say, "Hey, God told me this.
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"Hey, guess what God told me.
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"Hey, hey, God told me this." Anybody can do that.
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So God gave us His Word in written form so that we can read it, and so that we can understand it, and so that we can compare what we hear with it.
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And we can know for sure what's from God.
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and what's not. So would you please stand and we're going to worship the living Word of God.
Small Group Discussion
Read 1 John 4:1-6
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Have you ever believed wrong doctrine at some point in your life, and God’s Word corrected you? Explain.
How can you tell if someone quoting the Bible is quoting it accurately?
How would you approach a friend or a fellow church / SG member who is listening to a Podcaster/YouTuber that you know is teaching unbiblical things?
Breakout
Pray for one another to grow in discernment.
Want more eschatology teaching?
Catch up on the previous verse by verse teaching through Revelation
Catch up on the previous verse by verse teaching through 2 Thessalonians